In the ruins of Lahaina, a surfing legend leads a volunteer army to get supplies to survivors
Archie Kalepa has spent his life in the ocean. He's a legendary surfer and world-renowned pioneer of techniques to rescue people when colossal waves crash down on their heads.
So his first glimpse of his still-smoldering hometown was, of course, from the sea.
Roads into Lahaina were closed when Kalepa flew into Maui two days after a wildfire had leveled much of the historic town of 13,000. But a network of friends spirited him onto a boat and raced him up the coast.
As the boat came to shore and everyone on board took in the blackened hillside, the melted cars, the teetering columns of ash that used to be homes, they started to cry, Kalepa said. Sitting in the back, with the stuff of nightmares fast approaching on the horizon, Kalepa swore to himself he wouldn't break down.
"Be strong, be strong, be strong,"
